Barry Blair, 1959-2010
Canadian Comics Publisher
by Bryan Munn

Cartoonist and publisher Barry Blair, best known for founding
Ottawa-based Aircel Publishing, died January 3 of a brain aneurysm,
according to several online sources.

Born in Ottawa, Blair worked as an animator and commercial artist
before founding Aircel Publishing in 1985. Blair had begun
self-publishing the manga-influenced comic book series Elflord in 1980
under his own imprint, Nightwynd Productions. A black-and-white fantasy
adventure, the book went through two separate series with Blair later
adding a separate adventure title, Samurai. In 1985 Blair co-founded
Aircel, transforming his friend Ken Campbell's moribund insulation
company into a platform for Elflord and a slew of new titles. The
company met with moderate success, cracking the North American direct
market and finding distribution to comic book shops across the
continent. Aircel, with Blair as editor, produced a slew of comics
titles and was responsible for giving several Canadian artists their
first professional comics work. These included Dave Cooper, who is
credited as an inker on several early Aircel titles and who illustrated
stories written by Blair.

Another early success for Blair was Warlock 5, a title co-created with
illustrator Denis Beauvais. As written by Blair, Warlock 5 became a
cult hit, collected for its slick airbrushed artwork and
sometimes-sexual subject matter.

For the most part, the rapid growth and expansion of Aircel was
predicated on the explosion in comics publishing begun with the
phenomenon of Eastman and Laird's self-published Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles (1982), which spawned a large number of copy-cats, parodies,
and small publishers desperate to mimic their success, in part a result
of the ordering practices of comic shop owners who saw black-and-white
genre comics as something of a cash-cow during this period. The product
published by Aircel exhibited above average artistic and professional
standards and the company was able to thrive temporarily.

With the downturn/implosion in this alternative comics market, followed
by a period of consolidation, Aircel stumbled and was rescued by
upstart U.S. comics publisher Malibu, effectively merging with Malibu
imprint Eternity in exchange for financial stability. Under Malibu,
Blair published the Men in Black comic book series by Lowell Cunningham
and Sandy Carruthers (1990), setting the stage for a successful film
franchise. As well, many other Aircel series were abandoned in favour
of a line of sex-themed comics, including the Blair-penned Leather and
Lace. During this time Blair was embroiled in controversy over some of
his books' content, notably that of the series Ripper, which included
sexual violence and alleged racist imagery. Blair was to be haunted by
allegations about the sexual content of his comics, most notably
sexualized images of youth in many of his series and drawings.

In 1991 Blair left Aircel/Malibu, which later was purchased by Marvel.
Blair started a new company and began producing work for WaRP Graphics.
Along with several collaborators, Blair produced erotic comics for
publishers such as NBM and made a secondary career selling erotic art
and doing illustration work for online gaming clients. Along with Colin
Chan and Santos Aleman, Blair formed Studio RealmWalkers in 2009.

--
Posted By Bryan to Sequential: Canadian Comics News & Culture at
1/05/2010 01:51:00 AM